Resident Evil Megathread

Greyfox · 18-10-2020 10:58am

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

I think this is nonsense. Resi 4 and COD have guns. That's about the height of the similarities.

The article below proves they were thinking of call of duty when they made the changes

According to Resident Evil producer Masachika Kawata

"Looking at the marketing data [for survival horror games]... the market is small, compared to the number of units Call of Duty and all those action games sell," he said. "A survival horror Resident Evil doesn't seem like it'd be able to sell those kind of numbers."

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-03-23-capcom-survival-horror-market-too-small-for-resident-evil

Azza · 18-10-2020 11:24am

That article dates from 2012, over 7 years after RE4 was released.

When RE4 was released we where still in the PS2, Dreamcast, Gamecube and original Xbox console era, if you look at the top selling games on all the consoles, there is very few FPS and third person shooters in there, with Halo being a notable exception.
RE4 did start a move away from survival horror to a more action orientated game a move that got more pronounced with each subsequent release and you could say that those later releases chased the action adventure crowd but RE4's development was most certainly not influenced by COD.

Greyfox · 18-10-2020 11:26am

Azza wrote: »

I'm actually even struggling to see what similarities COD and RE:Resistance have to each other, micro transactions maybe?

Clearly RE resistance is aiming for that play online with your friends shooter market, they would of looked at the likes of COD while making resistance.

As per the link below when they made the garbage RE operation racoon city they looked at COD, here's what the head of marketing in the UK said
‘The dream would be that the millions of Call of Duty fans that are enjoying these fast-paced online games are attracted to this Resident Evil. I know he's a marketing guy and its not the same game but it shows that COD is one of the series Capcom was thinking of when they wanted more action

https://metro.co.uk/2012/01/20/resident-evil-to-attract-call-of-duty-players-says-capcom-291416/

johnny_ultimate · 18-10-2020 11:49am

There’s one thing that always gets me about the ‘Resi 4 abandoned survival horror!’ takes: the original Resident Evil games aren’t particularly scary. The first in particular is so silly and cheap that a few decent jump scares hardly make it some frightening masterpiece. Many of the elements that make them intense are contrived as all hell, such as the limited, clunky movement and aiming. They’re decent games, especially the remakes of one and two, but they’re proud schlock in many respects - hardly some untouchable masterpieces of horror. Indeed, Resi 2 is almost best as an example of sprawling, inventive and interconnected level design than its survival horror elements.

In contrast, Resident Evil 4 ramps up the intensity of the early games while abandoning or overwriting some of their limitations. Nothing in the series has ever gotten me like that first siege in the house, and getting decapitated by that chainsaw dude. Is Leon more capable and agile than his predecessors? Yes. But the result is a game that feels true to its roots without being beholden to them. It’s the kind of sequel all sequels should endeavour to be, but not in the exact same way: simply that urge and ambition to do things differently is something that typically defines the truly great sequels.

Playing through Resi 7 recently and it was a good time, especially when it opted to be pure atmosphere in a way the original games didn’t have the technical horsepower nor wide-ranging interactive influences to draw from. But equally it highlighted the limitations of the survival horror approach - the tedium if inventory management; the limitations of boss battles; the repetitive standard enemies; the contrived puzzles. It is drenched in atmosphere compared to its predecessors, but also in some respects a reminder of why the formula pursued by those early games proved to be something of an artistic dead end. It has easily been surpassed in the horror stakes by any number of other series, and while there’s still decent games to be made out of the original formula, Resi 4 proved that sometimes a radical reinvention is needed to make a game that’s better than ‘pretty good’.

Azza · 18-10-2020 11:50am

Greyfox wrote: »

Clearly RE resistance is aiming for that play online with your friends shooter market, they would of looked at the likes of COD while making resistance.

As per the link below when they made the garbage RE operation racoon city they looked at COD, here's what the head of marketing in the UK said
‘The dream would be that the millions of Call of Duty fans that are enjoying these fast-paced online games are attracted to this Resident Evil. I know he's a marketing guy and its not the same game but it shows that COD is one of the series Capcom was thinking of when they wanted more action

https://metro.co.uk/2012/01/20/resident-evil-to-attract-call-of-duty-players-says-capcom-291416/

I'm not seeing any clear connection between RE: Resistance and COD other than both can be played online and both have micro transactions. COD is a single/multiplayer FPS and RE: Resistance is a 4v1 asymmetrical survival horror game played in third person. A much better game to compare RE:Resistance too would be a game like Evolve or Left 4 Dead where the the role of the A.I director would be the equivalent of the Mastermind in RE: Resistance.

You could say RE5, ORC and RE6 chased the action adventure crowd sure but RE4 came about simply because the director Shinji Mikami who directed both RE1 and the Remake as well as producing other classic RE games felt the old formula had run its course and was no longer scary, it had nothing to do with COD.

Greyfox · 18-10-2020 12:28pm

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

There’s one thing that always gets me about the ‘Resi 4 abandoned survival horror!’ takes: the original Resident Evil games aren’t particularly scary. The first in particular is so silly and cheap that a few decent jump scares hardly make it some frightening masterpiece. They’re decent games, especially the remakes of one and two, but they’re proud schlock in many respects - hardly some untouchable masterpieces of horror.

That's like saying Bloodborne is not a good game as it's widely accepted that the original RE back in 1996 was very scary, the dogs through the window is probably gaming's most famous jump scare. The original RE 1&2 have lots of standout moments and both games are true masterpieces particularly when it comes to atmosphere, both games were deserving of the there critical acclaim.

Homelander · 18-10-2020 1:23pm

Chasing the COD crowd did bring dividends though. Until really recently, Resident Evil 6 was the best selling game in the francise, it's recently been passed by Resident Evil 7.

I'm not saying it was the right direction, just that they did capture a bigger market with Resident Evil 5 and 6.

Operation Raccoon City was also harshly judged as a crap single player game when it was actually a really solid and fun on-line multiplayer shooter, most reviews barely even touched on that aspect.

It would be a bit like judging Call of Duty or BFV solely on its campaign, I think ORC got a raw deal in that respect. I personally thought it was really decent, probably played about 100 hours of MP.

It had some amazing modes like USS v STARS fighting for control time, with the maps full of zombies and BOWs that could be tactically manipulated to your teams advantage.

ancapailldorcha · 18-10-2020 3:36pm

Greyfox wrote: »

The article below proves they were thinking of call of duty when they made the changes

According to Resident Evil producer Masachika Kawata

"Looking at the marketing data [for survival horror games]... the market is small, compared to the number of units Call of Duty and all those action games sell," he said. "A survival horror Resident Evil doesn't seem like it'd be able to sell those kind of numbers."

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-03-23-capcom-survival-horror-market-too-small-for-resident-evil

Ah come on. That's grasping at best. All that really says is that they wanted more sales and were looking at other titles.

Zero-Cool · 18-10-2020 3:58pm

It just comes down to 'action' sells more than 'horror' and Capcom wanted more of that. I think resi 5 and especially 6 showed them leaning fully into that with crazy melee and cutscenes. 7 was such a ballsy move as fps horror with little combat (early to mid game anyway) was such a contrast to resi 6, great to see that had high sales.

Markitron · 19-10-2020 8:52am

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

There’s one thing that always gets me about the ‘Resi 4 abandoned survival horror!’ takes: the original Resident Evil games aren’t particularly scary. The first in particular is so silly and cheap that a few decent jump scares hardly make it some frightening masterpiece. Many of the elements that make them intense are contrived as all hell, such as the limited, clunky movement and aiming. They’re decent games, especially the remakes of one and two, but they’re proud schlock in many respects - hardly some untouchable masterpieces of horror. Indeed, Resi 2 is almost best as an example of sprawling, inventive and interconnected level design than its survival horror elements.

In contrast, Resident Evil 4 ramps up the intensity of the early games while abandoning or overwriting some of their limitations. Nothing in the series has ever gotten me like that first siege in the house, and getting decapitated by that chainsaw dude. Is Leon more capable and agile than his predecessors? Yes. But the result is a game that feels true to its roots without being beholden to them. It’s the kind of sequel all sequels should endeavour to be, but not in the exact same way: simply that urge and ambition to do things differently is something that typically defines the truly great sequels.

Playing through Resi 7 recently and it was a good time, especially when it opted to be pure atmosphere in a way the original games didn’t have the technical horsepower nor wide-ranging interactive influences to draw from. But equally it highlighted the limitations of the survival horror approach - the tedium if inventory management; the limitations of boss battles; the repetitive standard enemies; the contrived puzzles. It is drenched in atmosphere compared to its predecessors, but also in some respects a reminder of why the formula pursued by those early games proved to be something of an artistic dead end. It has easily been surpassed in the horror stakes by any number of other series, and while there’s still decent games to be made out of the original formula, Resi 4 proved that sometimes a radical reinvention is needed to make a game that’s better than ‘pretty good’.

Was about to post something similar but you said it pretty well, there is a reason why RE4 is pretty much the only game in the series that is referred to as horror-action.

I firmly believe RE4 contains the most tense, nerve-wracking moments in the entire series:

The opening village assault
The canyon escape
Ashley's rescue
The house siege
Mendez boss fight
Castle sewers
1st Garrador fight
The fountain room
The Garden
Verdugo boss fight
Tower ascent
1st Regenerator fight
'It'/U3 boss fight

In addition to these the game has such an oppressive atmosphere enhanced even more by the utterly perfect encounter design that never lets you relax. RE4 may have led to RE5/6 which went further down the action route but its unfair to saddle this on RE4.

Also comparing RE4 to CoD is just absurd, RE4 is probably the most influential game of the last 15 years.

Retr0gamer · 19-10-2020 9:10am

Saying resident evil 4 was inspired by CoD is frankly ridiculous. As already mentioned on release there was only the first CoD and expansion. And this game was only on the pc platform. It was a modest success but the series wouldn't explode until modern warfare. The fact it was on pc means it's very unlikely that japanese developers would have even played it.

Resi 4 is full of japanese design sensibilities. It's that game that influences action games for the ps360 era and those games copied it and were influenced by it and not the other way around

McFly85 · 19-10-2020 9:40am

Mikami Resdent Evils > Non-Mikami Resident Evils.

7 was really good but the bar had been set pretty low by then.

RE2 is a personal favourite, but RE4 is one of the most influential(if not the most) games of the last 20 years. Third person action games would look very different without it!

Retr0gamer · 19-10-2020 9:54am

I'm not sure Mikami really is that much of an auteur when it comes to those games. I used to love his work religiously but since he has left capcom he hasn't made a game to match the stuff he has worked on with Capcom and I've since learned nearly every game of his that I attributed the greatness of to his involvement was actually due to someone else like Kamiya.

Markitron · 19-10-2020 10:36am

McFly85 wrote: »

Mikami Resdent Evils > Non-Mikami Resident Evils.

7 was really good but the bar had been set pretty low by then.

RE2 is a personal favourite, but RE4 is one of the most influential(if not the most) games of the last 20 years. Third person action games would look very different without it!

7 was a very good game in its own right, but the game is so much more than that. RE was in a complete state after RE6, it is my favourite series and I completely lost faith in it. If RE7 had been bad or sold poorly, the landscape of the series would look quite different now.

After that we got RE2R, RE3R and RE8 looks fantastic so far. Shout out to Rev2 for keeping a little bit of hope alive between RE6 and 7.

McFly85 · 19-10-2020 11:45am

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I'm not sure Mikami really is that much of an auteur when it comes to those games. I used to love his work religiously but since he has left capcom he hasn't made a game to match the stuff he has worked on with Capcom and I've since learned nearly every game of his that I attributed the greatness of to his involvement was actually due to someone else like Kamiya.

Yeah. I didn’t mean it to sound like the success or RE was down to one man, it’s just that once he left Capcom the series started to lose its way. It’s understandable too, with the reception RE4 got you can understand why it went down the action route, and the pressure to live up to RE4 would have been immense.

I’d also say Mikami at Capcom did have strong management that would let him know when something wasn’t working, and they also weren’t afraid to scrap months of work for long term gain, happened with RE2 and 4. I think he would have probably benefited from that for his post-Capcom works too.

19-10-2020 12:26pm

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I'm not sure Mikami really is that much of an auteur when it comes to those games. I used to love his work religiously but since he has left capcom he hasn't made a game to match the stuff he has worked on with Capcom and I've since learned nearly every game of his that I attributed the greatness of to his involvement was actually due to someone else like Kamiya.

That's a stretch

gimli2112 · 19-10-2020 12:30pm

he just grew up, according to him

https://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2020/10/17/resident-evil-4-dev-talks-development/

Veteran developer Shinji Mikami thinks that game developers “peak” in their 30s because once they become experienced, they have a more careful approach to development and end up losing their taste.

Markitron · 19-10-2020 12:41pm

This just reminds me of how much I would love to see them revisit RE3.5, but it seems like RE8 is covering that a bit at least.

Retr0gamer · 19-10-2020 1:44pm

Deleted User wrote: »

That's a stretch

No, it really isn't. Name a great game that he has been the director of and I can tell you that he only had managerial responsibility over it. Even Resident Evil 1 He is listed as a director, usually a managerial role in japanese credits, while the actual designers and producers would be more in charge of the game design in a japanese developed game. It was also produced by Tokuro Fujiwara, a legendary game designer how would have been in charge game gameplay and game design.

He is kind of like Kenji Inafune, more a manager than actually in charge of the game design.

Azza · 19-10-2020 4:37pm

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I'm not sure Mikami really is that much of an auteur when it comes to those games. I used to love his work religiously but since he has left capcom he hasn't made a game to match the stuff he has worked on with Capcom and I've since learned nearly every game of his that I attributed the greatness of to his involvement was actually due to someone else like Kamiya.

To be fair he hasn't made many games since he left Capcom.

He directed Vanquish and The Evil Within.

Vanquish was rather well regarded and while not a best seller has gone on to be a cult classic.

The Evil Within was a good game, felt like a mix tape of his Mikami's greatest hits. Its certainly closer to traditional RE games than RE5 and 6. What's interesting is the reviews where generally solid for it but some reviews criticized it for being stuck in the past. It did receive fair criticism for technical issues as well.

Other than that he was producer on Shadow of the Damned, Ghostwire: Tokyo and The Evil Within 2. I don't know anything much about Shadow of the Damned but The Evil Within 2 reviewed about the same as the original if not slightly better, though fans of the series seem pretty divided if the first or 2nd game is second. Ghostwire: Tokyo isn't out till next year.

Retr0gamer · 19-10-2020 5:31pm

Azza wrote: »

To be fair he hasn't made many games since he left Capcom.

He directed Vanquish and The Evil Within.

Vanquish was rather well regarded and while not a best seller has gone on to be a cult classic.

The Evil Within was a good game, felt like a mix tape of his Mikami's greatest hits. Its certainly closer to traditional RE games than RE5 and 6. What's interesting is the reviews where generally solid for it but some reviews criticized it for being stuck in the past. It did receive fair criticism for technical issues as well.

Other than that he was producer on Shadow of the Damned, Ghostwire: Tokyo and The Evil Within 2. I don't know anything much about Shadow of the Damned but The Evil Within 2 reviewed about the same as the original if not slightly better, though fans of the series seem pretty divided if the first or 2nd game is second. Ghostwire: Tokyo isn't out till next year.

Again he is director on all those games. Meaning he is more managing the team than actually designing the game. Wasn't all that fond of Evil Within but heard the sequel is a bit of an overlooked gem.

I think he is just good at surrounding himself with talent on his teams, which is kind of his job, but in Capcom/Paltinum that was a hell of a lot easier considering the pedigree there.

Shadows of the Damned was pretty ropey but it's been well documented he had very little to do with that game. It was Massimo Guarini's baby.

Markitron · 02-11-2020 11:38am

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Wasn't all that fond of Evil Within but heard the sequel is a bit of an overlooked gem.

I have noticed that this narrative has been built around the game lately and I strongly disagree with it. It fixes a number of issues from the first game, but in doing so introduces a few of its own into the mix. If you were to somehow extract all the positive elements from both games and combine them, you would have a survival horror classic. As it is they are both just above average.

Ol' Donie · 26-11-2020 12:29am

Dudes, question for you, if you don't mind.

ReVII

Is it worth shelling out for the VR headset and that, or just crack on without? What do ye reckon?

Jordan 199 · 26-11-2020 12:34am

Ol' Donie wrote: »

Dudes, question for you, if you don't mind.

ReVII

Is it worth shelling out for the VR headset and that, or just crack on without? What do ye reckon?

I'd say crack on without the VR headset.

mightyreds · 26-11-2020 12:36am

Ol' Donie wrote: »

Dudes, question for you, if you don't mind.

ReVII

Is it worth shelling out for the VR headset and that, or just crack on without? What do ye reckon?

There was parts that scared the ****e out of me without the headset, I'd say the headset is unreal to play it with , don't think I'd be able for it though

Markitron · 26-11-2020 9:42am

Ol' Donie wrote: »

Dudes, question for you, if you don't mind.

ReVII

Is it worth shelling out for the VR headset and that, or just crack on without? What do ye reckon?

The headset makes it better no doubt, but it is still a fantastic game without it. If it was January 2017 I would advise you to get the headset but it is not worth it at this point IMO, especially with rumours of the next PSVR surfacing yesterday.

Jordan 199 · 26-11-2020 10:41am

Ol' Donie wrote: »

Dudes, question for you, if you don't mind.

ReVII

Is it worth shelling out for the VR headset and that, or just crack on without? What do ye reckon?

I played it back in April without VR. I then tried to play it in VR a few months ago and the tension got way too much for me.

I will try to play it again sometime in VR as I ain't giving up easily.

Mr Crispy · 24-12-2020 10:23am

https://twitter.com/REBHFun/status/1342028390883229698?s=20

Mr Crispy · 14-01-2021 5:58pm

There will be a new trailer and gameplay footage for Village, as well as "more news related to the Resident Evil franchise" coming next week.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvSCK9Y4DNI

Zero-Cool · 15-01-2021 2:49am

I got an email from resident Evil ambassador program about signing up for a closed beta to celebrate the 25th anniversary of resident Evil. They said the game will be announced on the 25th January so not sure what I'm even signing up for but here's the link.

If you created a capcom account before October 2020, you have to create a new capcom id account and then migrate the old account over, absolute balls but got there in the end.

https://www.residentevil.com/village/us/topics/25th-cbt/

Zero-Cool · 15-01-2021 12:41pm

With the 25th Anniversary of RE 1 coming up, thought it would be a great time to revisit the classic that started it all.

Listening to this soundtrack, I can actually picture playing the levels containing it so vividly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYmhpUgHfKw

Zero-Cool · 19-01-2021 10:59am

Resi sale on PS4/5 starting today. I just reinstalled RE 1 Remake (never finished it) and Resi 7 (as it leads straight into Village) last night and I know with the showcase Thursday night, people want to play some of the older ones.

Jordan 199 · 19-01-2021 11:05am

Zero, did you play Resident Evil 7 before?

Zero-Cool · 19-01-2021 11:09am

Jordan 199 wrote: »

Zero, did you play Resident Evil 7 before?

Yupp but never played the No More Heroes free dlc which might give an extra glimpse of Chris going into 8.

Markitron · 19-01-2021 11:21am

Zero-Cool wrote: »

Yupp but never played the No More Heroes free dlc which might give an extra glimpse of Chris going into 8.

It’s more about tying up what happens to Lucas, I don’t know if I’d call it essential but its pretty hefty for free DLC

Jordan 199 · 19-01-2021 11:22am

Resident Evil 7 is a great game. I played 7 and 3 remake last year and I preferred 7 over 3.

ancapailldorcha · 19-01-2021 11:22am

Jordan 199 wrote: »

Resident Evil 7 is a great game. I played 7 and 3 remake last year and I preferred 7 over 3.

I keep meaning to give 7 a go. 3 remake was awful.

Zero-Cool · 21-01-2021 10:07pm

Hour to go for the showcase. Looks like village comes with something called RE: Verse which sounds like the new multiplayer. Should no more later.

https://twitter.com/REcountdown/status/1352270990961733637?s=19

Zero-Cool · 21-01-2021 11:19pm

Re:Verse is a new multiplayer game where you basically run around as resi characters in a pvp arena shooting other to ****. Looks absolutely awful.

Village is out in may and now releasing on old consoles as well, demo called Maiden out now.

Mr Crispy · 21-01-2021 11:41pm

Zero-Cool wrote: »

Re:Verse is a new multiplayer game where you basically run around as resi characters in a pvp arena shooting other to ****. Looks absolutely awful.

Village is out in may and now releasing on old consoles as well, demo called Maiden out now.

Yeah, didn't look good at all. Just glad it's an add-on, and hopefully not being worked on extensively at the expense of something else.

Zero-Cool · 22-01-2021 1:12am

Mr Crispy wrote: »

Yeah, didn't look good at all. Just glad it's an add-on, and hopefully not being worked on extensively at the expense of something else.

I was just going for an outbreak type game so disappointed with it. Still, 8 looks incredible.

Thecageyone · 22-01-2021 1:20am

Have had Resi 7 on the PC for ages now, have booted it up months back and played the first section but not been back since. Maybe should get back to it before this is out!

Star Lord · 22-01-2021 1:29am

Yeah, Village is looking spectacular. Think they've definitely taken aspects of the Re4 initial build, with what seems to be supernatural elements, and that hook...

Re:verse is a decision that looks like it should have been reversed...

Zero-Cool · 22-01-2021 2:03am

Showcase for anyone interested. The demo was awesome, will definitely be getting this on launch. RE:verse .... that time, money and effort could have surely gone to better use. Will surely die quicker than resistance. 2 bad multiplayer modes in a row when fans have been screaming for mercenaries and outbreak.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EGFlLXaXes

Markitron · 22-01-2021 9:12am

I don't know why they keep trying to make RE multiplayer a thing, nobody cares.

Zero-Cool · 22-01-2021 9:21am

I was selected for the RE:Verse beta.......yay?

Star Lord · 22-01-2021 10:36am

Same. Had I known what I was signing up to test in the first place, I'd not have bothered, tbh!

Mr Crispy · 22-01-2021 11:01am

Lads, it's your duty to play it and tell them how ****e it is!

Star Lord · 22-01-2021 11:08am

I just can't wrap my head around the decisions that lead to this...

"I know what people want from Resident Evil multi player... A bunch of Resident Evil characters able to run around and shoot each other..."

It's like they took a poll and went with the lowest scoring option!

Rob2D · 22-01-2021 11:29am

ReVerse looks almost as bad as REsistance.

All they had to do was make one big Mercenaries game with a huge roster and most people would be happy.

Resident Evil Megathread

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